Potato-digger



P. B. SPRINGER. l

POTATO BIGGER.

APPLICATION FILED 1uNE21. 1918.

' 1,358,594. Patented Nov. 9, 1920.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

" www f@ F. B. SPMNGER. FOTATO DIGGER.

APPLICATION FILED IU'NEZI. 1918.

1,358,594. Patented Nov. 9,1920.

a SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Snom/tor Hou/u ma i UNITEn stares FRANK B. SPRINGER, OF WINDSOR, COLORADO.

POTATO-DIGGER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 9, 1920.

Application filed Y.Tune 21, 1918. Serial No. 241,239.

To all whom z'zf may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK B. SPRINGER, a citizen oi the United States, residing at lindsor, in the county of l/Veld and State oi Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Potato-Diggers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

T he object of the invention is to provide a potato digger of improved type whereby the harvesting of the crop may be accomplished without traversing 'the ground. con taining the crop, but merely by traversing the plowed ground, or in other words to provide a machine which will operate with reference to a row or series of rows of potatoes from a position upon the ground already harvested, the machine being adapted to follow the crop although capable of operating' in either direction relative to the rows.

A further object of the invention is to provide a machine for the purpose indicated which is capable of handling the crop with increased 'facility and celerity and under such conditions as to simplify the separation of the potatoes from the earth and vines.

Further objects and advantages will be emphasized in the Vfollowing description, it being understood that changes in form, proportion and details may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

y In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side view of a machine constructed in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same.

ig. 3 is a sectional view on the plane indicated by the line 3-3 of Fig. 1. i

Fig 4 is a transverse sectional view of the receiving vehicle on the plane indicated by the line 4 4 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a sectionallview on the plane indicated by the line 5 5 of Fig. 2. i

Fig. 6 is a detail view showing the gearing by which motion is communicated from the ground wheel to the carrier.

The illustrated embodiment of the inventionconsists of a digger member 10 pro vided with a digger 11 and a shaker belt or carrier 12 operated by the ground or traction wheels 13, and a delivery element 14 having an endless carrier 15 for receiving the potatoes and vines from the shaker belt or carrier and conducting them to a distributing or separating element 16 consisting, for eX- ample, of an endless belt 16a arrangedin operative relation with and carried by a vehicle 17 having supporting wheels 18 and 19 and adapted to be moved with the first named members of the machine and maintained in a position to receive the potatoes and vines from the discharge end of the delivery member 14. Preferably the distributing or separating belt 16a is mounted upon a frame 2O provided with standards 2l which are removably fitted in sockets formed by cleats 22 on the side walls of the wagon body 17, said belt being arranged to traverse terminal rollers 23 and 24 of which the latter receives motion through the gears 25 and 26 of which the former is actuated from the rear vehicle wheel 19 by means of sprockets 27 and 28 and the chain 29. lt is the purpose to have one or more operators in attendance upon said distributing belt, to remove the potatoes therefromV and drop them into the body of the wagon as the vines, weeds and other waste material are carried rearwardly and discharged at the tail end of the wagon. i

The digger 11, by which the potatoes are elevated and thrown upon the carrier 12,'

may be of any suitable or approv`d type, andin order that the extent of depression thereof may be controlled to suit the conditions. the forward end of the frame 30 may be pivotally connected as shown at 31 with the draft tongue 32 having a caster or pilot wheel 33, a hand lever V34 mounted upon said trame 30 being connected by a rod or link 35 with the draft tongue, and the lever being adapted for locking at any suitable relative adjustment of the tongue and frame Yby means of segment 36 and a pawl 37. The ground wheel 13 carries a gear 38 meshing with a pinion 39 carrying a sprocket wheel 40 which is connected by a chain 41 with a sprocket 42 on a drum orroller 43 which is traversed by the shaker belt or carrier 12, the lower or 4forward portion of the same being arranged to traverse' a roller 44. Obviously during the operation of the machine the vibration of the belt oi'vcarrie-r v12, due

to the .movement of the machine, vis calcuf lated to shake a greater portion of the dirt from the potatoes so that the latter With the vines may be"discharged upon the relatively horizontal receiving portion 15a of the delivery conveyer l5, said conveyer traversing terminalrollers or drumsl and 46 and the 1 belt or carrier to the delivery convey'er. 9oV

rllhe frame i9 of the delivery c'onveyer ein bodies a turntable 5G mounted upon an annular track 51,i`vith relation 'to "which any `suitable anti-friction VVrollers or other devices, as shown at 52, may be employed, said supiport having a caster 53 mounted upon a suit- -able truss v.frame 54, a master gear 55 and a --couiitershaft 56 provided `With a pinion 57 ,meshing with said master gear. rlhe coun- .tershaft is connected with the drive shaft 58, forming a continuationof the rear roller or drum l/iof the shaker belt or c'onveyer by "means of a sprocket chain 592 traversing sprocket Wheels 60 and 6l secured respectively to said counter and drive shafts, so that during the operation of the machine land Vof the shaker belt in reference thereto, :motion is communicated to the master gear through. the intermediate gearing, when the clutch .462 has its meinber'sin engageiment," any suitable or preferred clutch'inechanism being employed and serving to permit iet-throwing the delivery conveyer mechanismvoutof'operation when desired.

Mounted upon the turntable is al shaft (i3V provided with afge-ar Getmeshing rWith the .i'naster gear 55, and adapted to maintain such engagement inlany adjusted position of thel delivery'conveyer.frame relative toV the digger frame. This shaft 63 is' opera- :tively'connected with the roll or drum 45 to communicate motion to the carrier or confveyenl, byv means of -a longitudinal .shaft 65,' intermeshing gears. 66 and 67 VbetweenV saidV longitudinal 'shaft and the shaft `63, Iandthe bevel-gears 68 and 69 between Ysaid longitudinal shaft andthe drum 46.

.Thus ,With the digger frame voperating in lrelation to the rows of potatoes Which are being dug, the delivery. conveyor maybe disposed on either side of the digger frame i and the potatoesthus delivered at aselected sideof the digger so Vthat the kreceiving vehicle be locatedentirely upon the plowed ground or the portion of the field from which ,the potatoes have already been i master gear;

dug. rlhe completeV delivery conveyer may be turned upon the table mechanism provided for that purpose so as to deliver on ,either side of the path of the digger frame, tothe end. that attheend of a. row the digger frame may be turned relative to the conveyer .frame to progress in the opposite direction, the vehicle of course being correspondingly reversed, so that there is no time lost in retracing the path of the machineand yet the receiving vehicleinay, as above noted, travel upon the plowed portion of the field. y

Y Obviously there Willbe a tendency to separate any remaining soil from the'potatoes Vduring the passage thereoftoward the deliver f end of the Aconve 7er l5 and asthe dis-V charge `of the latter is located above the plane of the distributing or separating carrier 16a, a further separating jar is received at this poi-nt 'so that it becomes a Arelatively simple matter to'detach or separate Vthe potatoes from the vines during thetravel there'- vof upon the conveyer 16 tojpermit of the ultimate discharge 'of the vines at the end of the vehicle.

Having described the invention, I claim:

l. A potato digger comprising a Wheeled frame, a conveyer, operating mechanism be tween the wheels of said frame and said conveyer, and laterally delivering mechanism having a lateral track positioned to the rear of then/heeled frame, a frame extending Y ltransver'sely oithe Wheeled frame and including a turn table rotatably mounted upon said track, a conveyor belt mounted upon the fiameand having a horizontal receiving yportion located tothe rear of the deliveryV end ofthe conveyerof saidvvheeled frame, a supporting structure for said track, a mas- "ter gear carried by Ysaid'supporting structure, means for transmitting rotary movevmaster kgear and means for "operatingthe ,ment from the conveyor of thev Wheeled 'l conveyor ofthe transversely extending frame v"from the master gear 'including a shaft rotatably carried by the turn table and a gear carried thereby and meshing i'vith the 2; A potato digger comprising ai'vheeled frame, conve-yer car'riedbyv the frame, op-

erating vmeans for the 'conveyen Yand delivery mechanism eXtendin'g laterally of the Wheeled frame te theV rear of the frame and 'having a base including a circular track, ya conveyer frame, a turntable supporting the conveyor frame and resting upon the track forrotary movement thereon, 'an eiidl'essfconveyer'carri'e'd by the frame ofthe turn table, an operating mechanism-for the last mentioned conveyor including a driving shaft rotated from the operating mechanism of the conveyer carried by the Wheeled iframe, a. vertically disposed bearing supported from said track and in axial relation thereto, a master gear carried by the bearing and having operative connection with the drive shaft for receiving rotation therefrom, and means for transmitting rotary movement from the master gear to the endless conveyer ofthe 4frame carried by the turn table including a shaft rotatably carried by the turn table and having a gear 1Y0V 

